


Birth of the Avatar

by Kenobi97



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-22
Updated: 2018-06-22
Packaged: 2019-05-26 17:53:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15006197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kenobi97/pseuds/Kenobi97
Summary: This story is made up of content from two chapters in another story of mine, "Avatar: Korra of the Southern Water Tribe," which is an alternate take on Korra's story with a very different set of events from the end of the first series.  I am particularly happy with this segment of my story which borrows aspects of Chinese Mythology and the Mythos of the Avatar world.  Personally, I felt the Legend of Korra episodes about Avatar Wan titled "Beginnings," did a great disservice to the established lore and I hope this short story provides an alternative perspective.Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, events or locations in this story. This is a work of fan fiction inspired by Avatar: The Last Airbender and Avatar: The Legend of Korra.





	Birth of the Avatar

My tutors told me that spiritual places like the Spirit Oasis at the North Pole made it simpler to enter the other realm.  On instinct, I placed my hand to the ground.  A whistling song hummed in my ear.  Like a leaf on the wind.  It seemed to be pulling me along.  I wasn’t sure how far I walked, but I left the forests behind and hiked atop a rocky outcropping.  The whistling continued until I found myself looking down into a hole that went deep inside the stone.  In an almost trance like state, I leapt down the hole, falling through the darkness until I hit the water.  An underground lake.  I propelled myself to the surface and let my eyes adjust to the darkness.  All that illuminated my surroundings was a flicker of light far above and the pale glow of luminescent crystals embedded in the stone.  I gracefully glided through the refreshingly cool water until I reached an island amidst the lake.  There was a stone statue amidst a forest of reeds.  It was a crocodile.  I sat down in front of the statue and closed my eyes before placing my hand on the statue.  A rush of energy surged through me and my eyes began to glow.

I opened my eyes to find myself in a confusing landscape.  I was standing waste deep in brackish water with similar reeds dotting across my view.  I shouted out curiously, “Hello?!  I am the Avatar!  The bridge between our two words!  Is there anyone here?!”  A shadow fell over me and I turned to see the looming form of a giant crocodile.  It looked at me and raised a claw towards my head.  I should have felt fear, but I stood perfectly still.  The creature’s claw gently touched my forehead and I heard its voice in my mind.   _Hello Avatar.  You have used my gateway to enter the Spirit World.  You are welcome to do so, but you will not be able to return … not unless you make peace with your own reflections._

I continued walking through the swampy terrain, mindful of the creature’s warning, and fearful that I could be trapped here for the remainder of my days.  I seemed to be growing increasingly lost.  Everything looked the same as though I were walking in endless circles through the water.  A voice spoke behind me.   _“Korra, you’ll never be lost if you know yourself.”_   I turned in shock to see a bald man with a black beard, and arrow tattoos.  He wore the garb of an air bending master and looked like Tenzin.  I gaped in awe, “Aang?”  He nodded with a small smile and replied,  _“It’s good to see you Korra.  I know of your quest through the Earth Kingdom and I know of your troubles.”_ Other figures materialized.  I saw a white bearded fire bender … Roku.  I saw Kyoshi.  A male water bender who I knew was named Kuruk.  There were hundreds of others arrayed behind the others … reflections of myself.  With a wave of Kuruk’s hand the waters receded and we sat down upon the now dry ground.  I said to the other Avatar spirits, “I don’t know what I should do … I don’t ever want to go into the Avatar State again.  Those people …”  Aang looked sympathetically towards me and said,  _“I feared the Avatar State as well.  Yet it is only dangerous until you learn to master it.”_ Roku chimed in,  _“Yet you must be careful Korra.  Death in the Avatar State could end the line forever.  Our spirit would cease to be.”_   I nodded in understanding.  Katara had told me this during our lessons.  I then said, “How do I defeat the Earth Queen?”  Aang said serenely,  _“I dealt with Hou-Ting’s father and also with her during the years before my passing.  They were always grasping after power, but they were never stupid.  I believe that Hou-Ting can be reasoned with into forging a lasting peace with the Free Earth Cities.”_   Kyoshi scoffed and replied resolutely,  _“I’ve known rulers like this Hou-Ting during my time as the Avatar.  Corrupt.  Unjust.  You must be ready to do what needs to be done in Ba Sing Se, Korra.”_   Roku nodded his head and added,  _“If you die on your journey, young Avatar, you shall be reincarnated into the Earth Kingdom.  This is why you were targeted as a child.  The Queen desires a puppet Avatar that she can find and keep on a leash.”_   Aang looked disapprovingly at his two past lives and my former selves began to argue among themselves all the way through the ages.

That was until a quiet, yet commanding voice said,  _“Enough.”_   A young woman with cream colored skin, hair the color of chestnuts, and verdant green eyes, stepped forward past all of the others.  She smiled kindly at me and said,  _“I am happy to meet you Korra.”_   I asked curiously, “Who are you?”  She chuckled and replied,  _“I am you.  My name is Yi and I will tell you the story of how I became the first Avatar.”_

_"It all began countless ages ago, Korra.  The heavens themselves were still in their infancy.  Qi worked its way through the cosmos bringing energy and life.  The first children of Qi were the spirits.  The Sun Father was Xihe.  Qi made him a sister named Tui who embodied the Moon.  Qi made the Lord of the Earth, Tudijun.  And the Lady of the Oceans, La.  The spirits built their domains and made offspring of their essence, in their own image.  The stars, the trees, the animals, the rivers and lakes, and the mountains.  Qi gifted its energy to the spirits to breath life into these creations.  In this way, Qi became the Lady of the Air.  Tui and La became lovers and combined their powers to tame the shear ferocity of the seas when they threatened to drown the domain of Tudijun._

_Eons after the creation, three of the four great spirits, Xihe, Tudijun, and Tui and La as one, chose to create new children.  They molded mankind into the three races and gifted them a small fragment of their ability to control the elements.  Tui and La taught the first water benders how to push and pull the tides.  Tudijun instructed the badgermoles to find two worthy souls to learn earth bending so they might pass on what they had learned.  These two were Oma and Shu as you well know.  Xihe bade the dragons to watch over his people and train the worthy to become benders of fire.  However, the peace did not last long.  Nobody knows who began the wars, but the Water Tribes, Earth Kingdoms, and Sun Warriors soon fought a bloody conflict.  The mass destruction of the war between mankind drove a wedge between the great spirits.  Xihe, Tudijin, Tui and La, as well as all of their offspring began a war against each other.  Qi watched in horror and wept.  For she was the Mother of all Spirits and the Grandmother of Man.  She sacrificed most of her strength desperately trying to end the war, but she failed.  As she wept, she heard the prayers of a peasant and his wife.  They had managed to avoid the destruction of the war by living above the clouds in a mountain range.  The wife was barren and the two wanted nothing more than to have a child, so they prayed to the Spirits.  Qi took pity on them and gave the last of her energy to form a child in the woman’s womb.  That child … was me._

_My parents named me Yi.  I knew a childhood free of war.  I played through the mountains and was gifted with the ability to manipulate the very air itself to the shock of my parents.  I learned how to use my powers by studying the Sky Bison that lived in the mountains.  Using the power of Qi, I bestowed the gift of air to other mountain dwellers seeking freedom from the death of the valley below.  We learned to ride the Sky Bison and bonded with them.  The peace was not destined to last.  Tudijun was furious that his mother had formed another child with her last breath and created a new nation of rivals living upon his mountains.  He sent vicious earthquakes to topple the mountain itself.  With land no longer being safe, I led my people to the only place left.  The ice.  We flew our Sky Bison to the North Pole.  The Water Tribes were suspicious of our people, but they warily allowed us to live on ice flows far away from their settlement due to our non-violent ways.  Something within me urged that I visit the Spirit Oasis within the city of the Northern Water Tribe.  It was difficult to infiltrate their most sacred place, but not impossible for one gifted with air._

_Inside, I met Tui and La.  They too were initially angered that their mother had given her life for me.  I was confused by what they had meant.  They explained that Qi had created a mortal host for her energy.  Me.  As the two were about to turn me away, I felt my eyes begin to glow.  A voice that did not sound like my own emanated from my mouth.  “I am the Avatar of Qi.  You will teach me water bending so I can bring peace and balance to this world.”  I was shocked by what had occurred but came to terms with my new role.  Tui and La taught me water bending.  I was in the North Pole for years mastering the art and I became a friend to the peoples of the Northern Water Tribe, learning their ways and customs.  However, I knew that my journey was not complete._

_I took my Bison on a journey to the Earth Kingdoms.  I flew to the place where I knew Tudijun would be.  The Great Divide.  It was an enormous depression in the earth where Tudijun had flattened the ground out of jealousy.  One of his mountain offspring proudly sought to reach higher than any of Tudijun’s own mountains.  He flipped the mountain and pushed it into the ground making the deepest canyon in the world.  I landed my bison and resolutely looked upon the Earth Spirit.  I did not flinch as he attempted to crush me with boulders, using the winds of the world to deflect the attacks and push him against the canyon walls.  My eyes glowed and I said furiously, “Teach me how to bend the earth so I can end this war, or I will end you.”  With the power of Qi, I forced Tudijun to teach me the power of earth bending.  I spent many years in Omashu perfecting the art and learning the diverse and hardy cultures of those who lived in the Earth Kingdoms._

_There was one element remaining.  I traveled far into the territories of the Sun Warriors.  I allowed myself to be captured and brought before their masters.  The dragons. Xihe ordered the dragons to slay me, but they ignored the wishes of their father.  The dragons deemed me worthy and granted me the gift of fire.  I again learned the ways of the Sun Warriors for many years, making friends and learning how to bend fire.  Xihe was furious that his children, the dragons, had disobeyed him.  He created nine smaller suns in the sky as his children to punish the world with unending heat and suffering.  Forests burned.  Oceans ran dry.  The famines and death were unfathomable.  I called on the power of all the elements and upon my Qi to go into the Avatar State.  In a tremendous battle, I felled the suns and had Xihe at my mercy.  Yet the lessons I had learned had been important ones.  As the water benders knew, the world was determined by balance.  I left Xihe alive on the condition that he forever be banished from the mortal world while Tui and La were allowed to remain.  The wars among Spirits and Men had nearly destroyed all of creation.  Calling upon the powers of Qi, I placed the barrier between the mortal and spirit worlds.  Only the strong of will would be able to breach the barrier and only for a short time.  With the war between the Spirits and the Nations finally over, I was an old woman.  I lived a fulfilling life and I died several decades later.  But that was not the end.  All living things are reborn, but my connection to Qi also gave me a connection to my reincarnations.  If I’ve learned one thing over our many lives, Korra, it is this.  We are not infallible.  We are all different.  Molded by different times and different people.  But our goal is forever the same.  Serve spirits and man.  Be the bridge between worlds.  Keep the peace and maintain balance._

_One of our lives asked me once, ‘Why didn’t Qi simply fight the Spirits herself?’  I realized the importance of our role then.  We need to learn to connect with and love the world and all the people who live in it.  That is the only way we will be dedicated to our duty.  Saving the world.  Over and over.  As many times as it takes."_


End file.
